Search — User Guide¶

Audience: End users, site administrators, and developers working with search in Cesivi.

See also: REST API reference · CSOM guide · Permissions guide

Overview¶

Cesivi ships a full-text search engine backed by Lucene. It supports:

KQL (Keyword Query Language) — boolean operators, property queries, phrase search, wildcards, date ranges
Security trimming — results are filtered to items the current user can read
Multi-surface results — same query engine serves all URL shapes (Classic results page, Modern search, SharePoint-compat ASPX, REST, SOAP, CSOM)
Refiners — faceted filtering by Author, ContentType, FileType, and custom managed properties
Sub-web scoping — search can be scoped to a specific sub-site

Search Entry Points¶

Cesivi exposes search through six URL shapes. All hit the same Lucene index and produce the same trimmed results.

Surface	URL	Query parameter
Classic Results page	`/Search/Results`	`?Query=`
SharePoint-compat ASPX	`/_layouts/15/osssearchresults.aspx`	`?k=`
Modern Search	`/Modern/Search`	`?Q=`
REST (JSON)	`/_api/search/query`	`?querytext=`
SOAP	`/_vti_bin/search.asmx`	XML body
CSOM	`ClientContext` → `SearchExecutor`	`KeywordQuery.QueryText`

Every page has a search box in the top navigation bar. Type a query and press Enter — the browser navigates to /Search/Results?Query={your-query}.

KQL Query Syntax¶

Cesivi's search engine parses KQL (Keyword Query Language) — the same syntax used by SharePoint 2019 On-Premises.

Basic terms¶

Query	What it matches
`budget`	Items containing the word "budget"
`budget review`	Items containing both "budget" AND "review"
`"budget review"`	Items containing the exact phrase "budget review"
`budget*`	Items containing words starting with "budget"

Boolean operators¶

alpha AND beta          -- must contain both words
alpha OR beta           -- must contain at least one
alpha NOT beta          -- contains alpha but not beta
alpha -beta             -- same as NOT (minus-prefix shorthand)

Property queries¶

Title:budget            -- Title field contains "budget"
Author:admin*           -- Author field starts with "admin"
ContentType:Item        -- matches by content type name
FileType:docx           -- matches .docx files

Date range queries¶

Modified>=2024-01-01                  -- modified on or after Jan 1 2024
Created>=2023-01-01 AND Created<2024-01-01  -- created in 2023

Combined queries¶

Title:KQL_Alpha AND Modified>=2020-01-01
Author:admin* NOT FileType:pdf
"quarterly report" FileType:docx

Refiners¶

When results are displayed in the Classic or Modern search surfaces, a refiners panel appears on the left side. Clicking a refiner narrows the result set by that facet.

Default refiners available:

Author — who created the item
ContentType — Item, Document, Folder, etc.
FileType — docx, pdf, xlsx, etc. (for libraries)
Modified — relative date buckets (Last 7 days, Last 30 days, etc.)

Refiner values are AND-ed: selecting Author=admin AND ContentType=Item returns items matching both filters.

Refiners are configured via Search Administration → Managed Properties. Any crawled property can be promoted to a refinable managed property.

Scope and Sub-Web Search¶

Site-wide vs. this-web scope¶

The Classic Results page has a Scope drop-down:

Scope value	What is searched
`All` (default)	All content across the site collection
`ThisSite`	Current site and all sub-sites
`ThisWeb`	Current sub-site only
`People`	People / users directory

URL: /Search/Results?Query=budget&Scope=ThisSite

Searching within a sub-web¶

Prefix the URL with the sub-web path:

/{subweb}/Search/Results?Query=budget
/{subweb}/_layouts/15/osssearchresults.aspx?k=budget
/{subweb}/Modern/Search?Q=budget

The server automatically scopes the query to items within /{subweb}.

REST API¶

Basic query¶

GET /_api/search/query?querytext='budget'
Authorization: Basic <base64>
Accept: application/json

With parameters¶

GET /_api/search/query?querytext='budget'&rowlimit=20&startrow=0&selectproperties='Title,Author,Path'

Parameter	Default	Description
`querytext`	—	KQL query string (required)
`rowlimit`	10	Max results per page
`startrow`	0	Offset for pagination
`selectproperties`	all	Comma-separated managed properties to return
`sortlist`	relevance	Sort specification, e.g. `'Modified:descending'`

Response structure¶

{
  "d": {
    "query": {
      "PrimaryQueryResult": {
        "RelevantResults": {
          "TotalRows": 42,
          "RowCount": 10,
          "Table": {
            "Rows": {
              "results": [
                { "Cells": { "results": [ { "Key": "Title", "Value": "..." }, ... ] } }
              ]
            }
          }
        },
        "RefinerResults": { ... }
      }
    }
  }
}

Pagination example¶

GET /_api/search/query?querytext='*'&rowlimit=10&startrow=0   -- page 1
GET /_api/search/query?querytext='*'&rowlimit=10&startrow=10  -- page 2
GET /_api/search/query?querytext='*'&rowlimit=10&startrow=20  -- page 3

SOAP API¶

POST /_vti_bin/search.asmx
Content-Type: text/xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
               xmlns:s="urn:Microsoft.Search">
  <soap:Body>
    <s:QueryEx>
      <s:queryXml><![CDATA[
        <QueryPacket>
          <Query>
            <QueryText>budget review</QueryText>
          </Query>
        </QueryPacket>
      ]]></s:queryXml>
    </s:QueryEx>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Both Query (returns XML DataSet) and QueryEx (returns XML string) operations are supported.

CSOM¶

Add a reference to Cesivi.Client.Search and use SearchExecutor + KeywordQuery:

using Cesivi.Client;
using Cesivi.Client.Search.Query;

using var ctx = new ClientContext("http://localhost:15010/Default/RootSite");
ctx.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("admin", "admin");

var executor = new SearchExecutor(ctx);
var kq = new KeywordQuery(ctx)
{
    QueryText    = "budget review",
    RowLimit     = 20,
    Refiners     = "Author,FileType",
    TrimDuplicates = true,
};
// Optionally select specific managed properties:
// kq.SelectProperties.Add("Title");
// kq.SelectProperties.Add("Path");

var results = executor.ExecuteQuery(kq);
ctx.ExecuteQuery();

foreach (var table in results.Value)
{
    if (table.TableType == "RelevantResults")
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Total: {table.TotalRows}");
        foreach (var row in table.ResultRows ?? [])
        {
            if (row.TryGetValue("Title", out var title))
                Console.WriteLine($"  {title}");
        }
    }
}

TrimDuplicates¶

`TrimDuplicates`	Behaviour
`true` (default)	Near-duplicate results are collapsed into one
`false`	All results including near-duplicates are returned; `TotalRowsIncludingDuplicates` reflects the full count

Security Trimming¶

Cesivi trims search results based on the permissions of the authenticated user. Items the current user cannot read are excluded from results — the trimming happens server-side before the response is sent.

Users see only items in lists/libraries where they have at least Read permission
Breaking permission inheritance on a list item (unique permissions) immediately removes that item from other users' search results
Restoring inheritance makes the item visible again

Security trimming applies to all search surfaces: REST, SOAP, CSOM, and all WebUI URL shapes.

Search Administration¶

Navigate to Cesivi Administration → Search (or /_layouts/15/searchadmin.aspx) to configure:

Section	What you can configure
Managed Properties	Create / edit crawled → managed property mappings; mark as refinable, sortable, retrievable, queryable
Result Sources	Named query scopes with pre-set filters and promoted results
Query Rules	Conditional result boosts, best-bet blocks, and promoted results based on query intent

Zero-Results Handling¶

When a query produces no results, the results page shows a "No results found" message and suggests:

Checking spelling
Trying a broader query
Removing refiners if active

The REST API returns TotalRows: 0 and an empty ResultRows array — not an error.

Troubleshooting¶

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Item I created doesn't appear in search	Index crawler hasn't processed it yet	Wait a few seconds; the Lucene index updates asynchronously
Sub-web search returns root-web items	`Scope` not set to `ThisWeb`	Add `?Scope=ThisWeb` to the URL
SOAP returns `<faultcode>`	Query XML malformed	Check the `<QueryText>` element is present and well-formed
REST returns 401	Missing or wrong credentials	Pass `Authorization: Basic <base64(user:pass)>`
Refiner panel empty	No items indexed yet or refinable MPs not configured	Seed data, wait for indexing, verify Managed Properties in Search Admin
`SearchExecutor` throws `ServerException`	CSOM client target URL wrong	Ensure `ClientContext` URL points to the site root, not a list or file URL

API Compat Reference¶

Feature	REST	SOAP	CSOM	WebUI
Basic keyword query	✅	✅	✅	✅
KQL boolean AND/OR/NOT	✅	✅	✅	✅
Property query (`Title:x`)	✅	✅	✅	✅
Phrase search	✅	✅	✅	✅
Date range	✅	✅	✅	✅
FileType filter	✅	✅	✅	✅
Refiners	✅	✅	✅	✅
Pagination	✅	✅	✅	✅
Security trimming	✅	✅	✅	✅
Sub-web scope	✅	✅	✅	✅
TrimDuplicates toggle	✅	—	✅	—
Query suggestions	✅	✅	✅	✅
Promoted results / best bets	✅	✅	✅	✅

Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA)¶

All search surfaces in Cesivi meet WCAG 2.1 AA as of v1.4 (PLAN-1645).

Search UI landmarks and semantics¶

Surface	Landmark	Notes
Top navigation search box	`<div role="search">`	Visible on every page; `<label>` for input is visually hidden
`/Modern/Search`	`<form role="search">`	Both home and results forms use the landmark
`/Search/Results`	`<form role="search">`	Applies to the empty-state form
`/_layouts/15/Osssearchresults.aspx`	`<input aria-label="Search">`	Input is self-labeled
All refiner groups	`<fieldset>/<legend>`	Replaces generic divs — screen readers announce group name
Search results list	`<ol aria-label="Search results">`	List count announced; each result is a `<li>`
Pagination	`<nav aria-label="Search results pagination">`	Navigation landmark
Admin modals (mp/rs/rt/dt/qr)	`role="dialog" aria-modal="true" aria-labelledby`	Modal name announced on open

All search surfaces are keyboard-navigable: - Tab moves through all interactive elements in DOM order - Enter submits the search form from the query input - Escape closes open Bootstrap modals - Refiner checkboxes, scope/sort selects, and pagination links are all Tab-reachable - Admin table buttons (#btnNewProperty, #btnNewSource, #btnNewRule) are focusable

Screen-reader tested (proxy semantic verification) via axe-core + DOM inspection: - All table headers use scope="col" — column names announced per cell - All form labels use for= attribute — inputs announce with their label - Results list structure: list count + individual item structure announced - Search landmark (role="search") present on all search-bearing forms

axe-core gate¶

KnownAxeAcceptances = [] — zero waivers. Automated gate in SearchA11yTests.cs runs on every CI build. Routes: 12 URL variants covering all search surfaces.